1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to mowers, and more particularly to mowers having its cutting deck mounted on an extendable arm.
2. Prior Art
At present, mowers have been designed in general either for cutting principally lawn grass or for cutting large bushes and brush along roadways and ditches, but because of structural difficulties not both.
Examples of such bush and brush mowers can be seen in Eaton U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,385 issued Feb. 2, 1971 and entitled "Slopemower Apparatus For Highway and Railroad Rights-of-Way" and in Cowles U.S. Pat. No. 3,087,296 issued Apr. 30, 1963 and entitled "Brush Cutter." Also typical of models actually manufactured is The Boom Axe manufactured by Terrian King Corporation, Sequin, Tex.
Unfortunately, these present mowers are restricted in the functions which they can perform. Furthermore, those mowers capable of cutting small bushes and brush are quite heavy, bulky and tall, in order to achieve flexibility in positioning the cutting deck on steep grades to reach the bushes and brush and to follow the contour of the surface being cut. Also, these mowers do not have the ability to obtain a fine cut that would be expected of a conventional lawn mower.
Another difficulty of the prior art equipment has been the danger of it tipping over unless an extremely heavy base is used, due to the high center of gravity of the cutting member assembly. The prior art design also places large tension on the hydraulic cylinder resulting in shorter wear time and increased play in the telescoping boom arms.